Control for grapples



Dec. 4, 1951 MCRlN 2,577,689

CONTROL FOR GRAPPLES Filed Aug. 19, 1948 INVENTOR 60fi6 6.1%0/4/ Z2 ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 4, 1951 I UNITED PATENT OFFICE Contact FOR GRAPPLES Geor e G. Moi-in; South Hadley Fall's, as-

signer to Morin Manufacturing- Company, In;-; corporated, Ho1yoke, M555.) a corporation of -Massachusetts Application Acglisr 19, 1948, Serial no. 45,116

(01. me n) 4 Glaims. 1 v

This invention relates to a devicefor cont-rollin grapples and the like suspended from power op eratedcranes and used in the handling of pulp logs and other materials.

In the handling of pulp logs, as in loading the logs on cars or trucks from piles of logs,- or bnto conveyors and in other repiling operations it is customary to employ a grapple in the form of tong members, hinged toggle fashion to a head which is suspended from the lifting cable of a power crane. The tongs are raised and lowered,- opened and closed by the manipulation of the cables from the cab of the crane in a well known In the operation of picking up the logs the grapple has to be oriented with respectvto the direction in which thelbgs lie in the pile and again in discharging the logs on the pile being built upon a fiat car, conveyor or other repiling location. In the past this orientation has been roughly accomplished manually whicnhas required the presence of a manon both log piles to adjust the final positibn of the grapples relative to the logs. I

It is the object of the .presentinvention to provide a control means by which the grapple can be oriented by the crane operator without the assistance of men on the log piles, thereby achieving a substantial saving in time and labor.

Qther and iurther objects residing in the details of constructiontr the device and the relationof its parts will be made apparent from the following specification and claims.

In the accompanying drawings I Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a crane and log grapple embodying the invention; 7

. 2 is a side elevation of the control means. ona larger scale; V v} Fig: 3 is a plan view of the structure shown in Fig. 2;

Fig 4 is a detail sectional view on a larger scale taken substantially on line 4--4- of Fig. 3-;

'Fig. 5 is a detail sectional vieyv on -a larger scale taken substantially on line 5--5 of Fig? 3;

Fig. 6 is a detailsectionalview, gn a larger scale taken substantially on line 6-45 of Fig; 3; and

Fig; 7 is a detail view of two tagline control drums. V

Referring. tothe drawings a power crane isgenerally indicated at t. the crane boom 2 and its: control cab 3 are mounted-for rotative moven egit o he vehima sss i .9J'H5 ';m ?n f-i e li tti-ngicablett is attached to a grapple head B and tog le connected grapp a ms. 1 the. usua manner to effect raising, lowering, opening and closing of the grapple by an operator in the control cab 3. The movements of the cab boom and cables are powered in the usual manner from the vehicle carried power plant, not shown. The details of the construction 01 the parts so far described are not per se part of the present invention and further description thereof is not believed necessary. I

In accordance with the present invention and as best shown in Fig. 3 a ring rnember 8 is secured to the'grappl'e head as by angle brackets 9 bolted at H] to the inner circumference of the ring and to the sides of the grap 1e head.

Rotatably mounted on ring 8 is a frame generally indicated at H. The frame ll comprises a pair of elongated members l2 connected by four cross members l3, l4, l5 and 86, which are Welded or otherwise rigidly secured to the members l2.

The ring 8 is formed with upper and lower flanges l1 and I8 (Fig, 6) and the cross menibers l3 and M, which extend beyond the member I2 are provided with flanged rollers [9 which engage the upper flange ll of the ring. The name H is thus held to the ring While permitting the ring and the grapple head to which it is secured to rotate relative to the frame about a vertical axis. For the sake of clearness the head 5 is indicated by broken lines in Fig. 3. g i

The cross member [5 is positioned intermediate the ends of frame members l2 and carries a verucm bearing 20 in which is r'otatably mounted a short shaft 2i to the lower end of which is secured a sprocket 22. A sprocket chain 23 engages around sprocket 22 and extends around ring 8, the ends of the chain being secured, as by a bolt 24 to the ring on the side remote from shaft 2| when the grapple is oriented as shown in Fig 1. As willhe apparent rotation of shaft 2i and sprocket 2'2 will cause rotation of ring 9, and the grapple head to which the ring I is secured, through arcs of su bstantia lly 915? in either direction. Rotation is imparted to shaft 2| by taglines 2'5 and 26 which are respectively looped or snubbed around upper and lower grooves 21 and 28 formed in a pulley 2e keyed to the shaft. The outer ends of the taglirie's are secured to the pulley in their respective grooves by bolts 30 and extend to the cab 35 where they are powered and controlled as later described. As is apparent from Fig. 3 the tagline's are wrapped around pulley ill in opposite directions and therefor. impart rotation to the pulley; in

, opposite directions when one of the lines is taken Cross member [6, which is positioned at the tail end of the frame members l2 toward the cab, carries a guide member 3! through which the taglines pass.

A friction disc 32 is secured by bolts 33 to cross member l5. The under surface of pulley 29 rides on the friction disc 32 and is pressed against the disc by a spring 34 compressed between the upper surface of the pulley and a nut 35 threaded on the upper end of shaft 2 l Turning of the pulley and consequently turning of the grapple head takes place against the restraining friction between pulley 29 and the friction plate 32.

The taglines 25 and 25 are respectively wrapped around winding drums 31 and 38 (Fig. 7) suitably mounted in the cab, the ends of the lines bein connected to the drums. The drums 37 and 33 are rotatably mounted on respective shafts 535i and all which are constantly driven from the crane power plant (not shown) in a direction to cause the drums to wind in the taglines. Extending from the winding drums are respective flanges is! and t2 the inner surfaces of which are engaged respectively by friction members 53 and it carried by respective spring arms 55 and 35. The latter are secured to the constantly rotating shafts 39 and 45 respectively. The friction members 43 and 44 while slipping over the inner surface of the flanges tend to rotate the drums in a winding direction and exert sufrlcient frictional force on the flanges to maintain the taglines taut.

Fixed to the shafts 33 and 45 respectively are friction discs 41 and :43 which are normally spaced from the adjacent flanges of the respective drums. The drums 37 and 38 are adapted to be moved along their shafts and into driven engagement with their respective friction discs 4'! and 4-8 by sliding pins 49 and 50 which are moved into engagement with the drums by respective shafts and 52 threaded in aligned bearings 53 and 5d. The shafts 5| and 52 are provided with pulleys 55 and 56 respectively. Secured to pulley 55 is a short cable 5'! connected by spring 58 to a fixed point of the cab frame at 59, the spring exerting sufficient tension to normally maintain the shaft 5| back off from the pin 19. A cable 55 having one end secured to pulley 55 is connected at its other end to an operating lever (not shown) by which pulley 55 can be rotated against the action of spring 58 to slide the drum 3'! into power driven engagement with the friction disc 45 on shaft 39 as above described. A spring 5| compressed between the friction disc 4? and the adjacent flange of drum 3"! assures separation thereof when shaft 5| is retracted by spring 58. Similarly pulley 55 is connected by cable 62 to a retraction spring 63 and to an operating cable 54. The spring for assuring separation of friction disc 48 and drum 38 is indicated at 65.

As will be apparent from the structure just described the slipping friction-drives 43 and 4 maintain the taglines 25 and 23 taut but since the taglines are wound in opposite directions on pulley 29 they oppose each other and no rotation is thereby imparted to the grapple head. The force exerted by the friction disc 32 is sufficient to prevent any inequality in the action of the slipping drives at the drums from being effective, and permits a greater tension to be maintained on the taglines by the members 43 and M. The tautness of the taglines maintained by the slipping drives and disc 32 is'sufficient so that the frame H, the tail of which '25 engages the taglines at the guide 3|, maintains the grapple head from twisting. An outward pendulum swing of the grapple will draw the taglines outwardly but the slack on an inward swing is instantly taken up by the slip drive, and the tendency to pendulum swinging of the grapple may be damped and controlled by a suitable simultaneous application of power to both tagline drums.

When it is desired to orient the grapple with respect to a pile of logs the grapple may be turned around its vertical axis by applying power to one of the taglines to rotate the pulley 29 in the desired direction, in which case the power driven tagline overcomes the resistance of the friction disc 32 and the slipping drive of the other tagline drum to rotate pulley 29 and through chain 23 rotate ring 3 and the grapple head. The friction disc 32 prevents over rotation of the grapple when the power is released. After the load of logs has been picked up by the grapple and swung by suitable manipulation of the crane boom to its unloading position the grapple is re-oriented by again applying power to the proper tagline. The ring 8 is preferably provided with a graduated segment 56 which rotates relative to a pointer 51 secured to frame II. The relative position of the pointer 61 and the segment 56 being noted by the crane operator at the proper oriented positions of the grapple at the loading and unloading piles, the orienting movement of the grapple can be effected during the movement of the boom from one pile to the other so that no time is lost at the piles.

The structure described gives an extremely accurate and complete control of the grapple and avoids the need of men on the log piles to assure proper pickin up and discharge of the logs.

What I claim is:

1. A control for grapples and the like suspended from power cranes which comprises, an annular member secured to the grapple, an elongated frame rotatably secured to said member at one end of the frame to permit rotation of the grapple relative to the frame about a vertical axis, a vertical shaft carried by the frame intermediate its ends, a sprocket carried by said shaft, a chain connecting said sprocket and said member for driving the latter from said shaft, a pulley fixed to the shaft, two taglines respectively connected to said pulley to rotate the latter in opposite directions, means applying frictional restraint to the rotation of said shaft, a constantly operating slack take up means for each tagline, guide means carried by said frame at the end opposite said member and engaging the taglines to maintain the frame in alignment with the taglines, a power driven windup for each tagline, and means to apply power to either or both of said windups.

2. In a control for grapples and the like suspended from power cranes which comprises, an annular member secured to the grapple, an elongated frame rotatably secured to said member at one end of the frame to permit rotation of the grapple relative to the frame about a vertical axis, a vertical shaft carried by the frame intermediate its ends, a sprocket carried by said shaft, a chain connecting said sprocket and said member for driving the latter from said shaft, a pulley fixed to the shaft, two taglines respectively connected to said pulley to rotate the latter in opposite'directions, means applying frictional restraint to the rotation of said shaft, and guide means carried by said frame at the end opposite said member and engaging the taglines to maintain the frame in alignment with the taglines.

3. A control forgrapples and the like suspended from a power driven crane, which comprises, a frame rotatably connected to the grapple to permit rotation of the grapple relative to the frame about a vertical axis, means rotatably carried by the frame and connected to the grapple to impart rotary movement to the grapple upon rotation of said means, two taglines connected to said means to respectively rotate the latter in opposite directions, a constantly operating slack take up means for each tagline, a power driven windup for each tagline and means to apply power to said windups.

4. A control for grapples and the like suspended from-a power driven crane, which comple relative to the frame upon rotation of said prises, a frame rotatably connected to the grapno ple to permit rotation of the grapple relative to the frame about a vertical axis, means rotatably carried by the frame and connected to the grapple to impart rotary movement to the graprespectively rotate the latter in opposite directions, a brake applying an adjustable frictional restraint to said means, a constantly acting slack take up for each tagline, guide carried by the frame and engaging the taglines to maintain the frame in alignment with the taglines, a power driven windup for each tagline and means to apply power to either or both of said windups.

GEORGE G. MORIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 398,867 Wheeler Mar. 5, 1889 410,870 Barnhart Sept. 10, 1889 605,884 Lancaster June 21, 1898 744,071 Hayward Nov. 17, 1903 1,327,324 Hecker Jan. 6, 1920 

